SACRAMENTO  Democratics who control the state legislature were already eager to spend more money than was proposed in Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget, which would grow by 5.5 percent.

Then on Friday, the legislature’s number crunchers predicted that California will receive about $2.8 billion more in tax revenue than the governor had predicted in his conservative assumptions for the budget year that will start July 1. On top of that, the forecast called for an added $400 million to roll in between now and then.

“Clearly the markets have been doing extremely well in the last five to six months in particular and we’ve tried to reflect that in our updated revenue forecast for capital gains,” Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said Friday. He said the Department of Finance “doesn’t seem to have captured that recent improvement in the markets.”

Brown’s finance officials said the legislative projections rely heavily on assumed capital gains growth, exposing the state to significantly greater risk and could jeopardize the financial strides made over the past two years.

The governor has said he plans to keep the purse strings as tight as possible, although the new revenue projections will make that a challenge. The governor’s plan would boost spending on education, health care and debt service.

Legislative Democrats, buoyed by supermajorities that they won in November, want more spending than he proposed for health and welfare programs and the courts system.

Also, despite the infusion of money from last year’s Proposition 30 tax increases, they are moving ahead with several proposals to raise additional fees and taxes, including hiking levies on soda, cigarettes, bullets, plastic bags and oil pumped from the ground.

Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, the author of the oil tax, derided the governor’s budget proposal as foolish because it’s so low. Evans said she believes budget reductions in previous years should be reversed because they have contributed to high unemployment and hampered a full economic recovery.

“Funding cuts to state programs caused historical job losses in every sector. These same funding cuts reduced the money being spent in our local economies,” she said. “California needs to spend some of our new revenues to put people back to work and contribute to the overall economic activity in the state to induce a resurgence in our local economies.”

Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said lawmakers must stand with the less fortunate even if they can’t immediately achieve broad public support for spending more on programs for adult dental services, welfare assistance, mental health and child care.

“We just look to do what we believe to be the right thing on behalf of the entire state,” Steinberg said. “But also to pay real attention to the people without teeth because they lost their dental insurance; or the people who are showing up in emergency rooms or in the jails who are going to cycle back and forth at great expense to the state unless we put a little something into mental health. We stand for the CalWorks recipients who are now living at poverty wages.

“Is that going to win the grand debate in the court of public opinion? We’re not trying to beat the governor. We want to work with him,” he added. “But we are also going to assert our prerogatives and try to get some things done for people who need help.”

Democrats questioning the administration’s conservative revenue projections say they prefer the more robust forecast by their budget analyst. The revenue projections are important because they are used to help determine spending.

Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, said the governor’s projections contradict a growing consensus. A revenue forecast that’s too low and therefore reins in state spending could sabotage the economic recovery, the San Fernando Valley Democrat warned.

Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, wants to increase court funding while boosting oversight, saying cuts to the judicial branch have clogged the courts and further strained municipal budgets.

“We need to make sure that the courts are able to operate efficiently because they play such an important role in our democracy,” he said, adding the courts should be “able to recover along with us.”

Brown’s answer to more spending and taxes is clear: “No,” he told reporters this week at the Capitol.

“There are a lot of needs out there and there are very articulate advocates,” he said. “I am trying to find the right balance between spending and holding the line.”

Brown credited his voter-approved sales and income tax hikes for helping the state climb out of a deep fiscal hole. The current and former governor who once had a reputation for spending and taxes has cast himself as the “backstop,” drawing praise from Republicans for his professed fiscal restraint amid the uncertain economy.

“Everybody wants to see more spending,” Brown said. “Well, but I’m the backstop at the end. And I’m going to keep this budget balanced as long as I’m around here.”

Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, vice chairman of the budget committee, credited the governor with projecting conservative revenues and tamping down the appetite for tax increases.

“He is taking on the leviathan of interests in Sacramento that would like to spend more money than we have and raise taxes on our struggling economy,” said Gorell, R-Camarillo.

In that sense, Gorell said Brown has found willing allies among legislative Republicans.

“I feel comfortable with that in the sense that he is very passionate when he talks about austerity and he has so far shown no willingness to change his position on that,” Gorell said. “Would I rather there be a Republican in the corner office? Of course, but so far Jerry Brown has shown himself to be among the more conservative Democrats in and around Sacramento public policy.”

There remain points of disagreement with the GOP. Republicans said they wanted to see more leadership on building a rainy-day fund and criticized the governor for borrowing against $500 million in cap-and-trade funds. Legislators from both parties also have taken aim at Brown’s plan to send more money to schools in disadvantaged districts.

Even with veto-proof supermajorities, Democrats would have a hard time mustering support from their own ranks to raise taxes.

“I think there is a good handful of moderates in each caucus that are going to be very reticent to vote for taxes,” said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman. “I think there are some that are ideologically aligned with the governor that we just had a tax increase and it’s not the time for more. And there are some that represent districts where it’s probably not a good idea to vote for taxes.”

Just how much of a surplus there is remains a question. Steinberg has expressed disappointment in Brown’s latest revenue estimates, noting they were roughly $2 billion lower than the administration predicted in January. Brown pointed to an increase in the federal payroll tax and the federal sequester as factors pushing down revenue.

“While the state’s fiscal condition has improved, there are many good reasons for the Legislature to adopt a cautious budgetary posture,” the analyst’s office said.

The analyst suggested this was an ideal time for lawmakers to begin addressing the state’s massive long-term budgetary and retirement liabilities.

Pérez said he plans to use the numbers from the analyst and finance to work with the Senate and Brown to craft a responsible budget.

“No one should interpret these figures as an automatic green light to increase spending, but rather to pay off debt, build the reserve, and strengthen the middle class — key principles of our Blueprint for a Responsible Budget,” Pérez said Friday. “To borrow from the governor’s comments this week, we ‘stand on intelligent analysis.’”